Have You Purchased a GPS Lately?

Recently I bought a TomTom One for my sister. She's cursed with a horrible sense of direction. The unit was a little more then 100 dollars, on the cheap side for GPS units currently available. The software was very easy to install and self explanatory to use. I updated the software and maps in about ten minutes and tried it out on a trip to cape cod. It was accurate and worked like a charm. If a 100 dollar unit can complete the same tasks as the 300 dollar widescreen gps system where's the need for the unit or excess. Here's a link to the one I bought.

http://www.cnet.com/8301-13845_1-9912588-58.html

I bought a Garmin Nuvi 360 and I think it is great. It has a lot of fancy features that I don't use. I don't use it everyday but it has helped me out of situations many a times.

Interesting topic for me at the moment. I need to get a GPS for travelling in Europe and the UK. Previously I relied on the factory-fitted model in my car, but my replacement car doesn't have one fitted as standard.

I have looked at Tom Tom and Garmin and am uncertain about which is best.

I don't want to have a tinny sound for music when I am used to high quality factory-fitted speakers, so MP3 functionality is irrelevant. Neither Blue Tooth nore voice activation is essential. I simply need to have an accurate and easy to use model that I can update regularly and know is not going to let me down in the middle of St Denis, Paris!

I will have a look at Wireless Technology and see if that throws any further light on the decision.

Joe

Take a Tom Tom, they have lead the testing for years and are relatively cheap.

More important, the antenna is so good that most ares are OK without an external antenna. A socket is supplied just in case anyway...

Mine works under my car seat still (no external antenna)and fully accurate.... amazing.... Its a normal car with steel roof and a glass sunroof....

There is a lot of cheap crap around, so be careful......

Andy

Which model do you use?

Joe

I have a Go 700 with the hard disk. The model is not sold anymore.

If you live in the USA, any model with a memory chip and the complete USA boots quickly and should be fine.

If you do not live in the USA, tell me first please.....

The utilities etc are easy to learn and are basically the same with all models that i have seen, new and old.....

One with a 16:9 screen is maybe slightly better to look at.....mine is only 4:3.....

Email me if I can help further.....

I use the Tom Tom software which is loaded on to my mobile phone (Nokia E50) along with a Freedom Keychain GPS receiver. It works fine & means that I can use it whether driving, being a passenger or walking without having to carry any extra gizmos with me.

I recently acquired a Gamin Zumo 550. After months of researching and waiting, I decided on it because I needed a motorcycle oriented GPS and didn't think anything comparable was going to hit the market in the near future.

Among many, many neat features is the fact that while biking or walking the unit talks to me through my bluetooth headset.

In the car, the automobile cradle has a built in speaker so I don't need the headset.

The Zumo recognizes the mode it needs to communicate with by what cradle (or lack thereof) it is installed in.

Nowadays, I just head up into the Appalachian mountains west of where I live, sans maps. When I decide it's time, I just hit the home button and the sweet young thing assuredly whispers in my ear that she will get me home safely. Or, it's poi database may show me something I'd like to check out. Another neat thing is that it logs my unplanned travels so I can later download and display them in google maps and/or google earth as well as the included mapquest software.

And, if I deviate from the planned route, the Zumo is very fast in its route recalculation.

It's pricey, but a winner in my book.

Lastly, the auto gps market may be (or may not be, I'm not a marketer) saturated, but the need for quality motorcycle gps's at a more reasonable price than my Zumo is still high, IMO. The Tom Tom Rider II is cheaper and OK, but doesn't have the features, ease of use or flexibility that the Zumo has.

I have been using one GPS or another for years, i have a box of them here somewhere...

I have found that the best are from Magellan, a small player when compared to Garman, but I have never like Garman, I have several of theirs, and just don't like the function. Customer support needs work as well.

I just got the new offering from Delorme, seems to work well, but I have as yet to do much field testing.

I must admit I have spoiled myself, my vehicle is equipped with a ToughBook CF-30 that i run a GPS feed to and use various map software, depending on where I am and what I am doing. I have found this to be the best combination, also great for storing digital photos and retouching on the fly.

Kevin

I'm not a slave of brand names. I bought the Garmin Zumo 550 because it satisfied my needs for motorcycle use and it was the only one that came close.

I also own a somewhat dated Lowrance handheld "mapping" gps that I bought about 7 years ago for sea kayaking around the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. I chose it because, at the time, it best supported marine applications in a hand held unit.

Regarding Magellan...

I used to work for a consumer electronics chain here in the US. In the gps market we sold Magellan and Tom Tom. We had a lot of automobile Magellan's (various models) returned because they were slow in providing voice instruction; ie, you would be past the turn, then it would announce "take next right...". Because of that I really shy'ed away from Magellan.

Now that I think about it and from my past selling experience, I really don't believe the market is saturated. I think we still have a ways to go on adding features and functions that people want to see.

I own the TomTom 910 and love it. It ran me about $400 last June. I bought one for my dad in November and picked it up for $300 and he just bought one for my sister for $225.

Amazingly, the thing even works when you are walking (including the mph estimator). Had I known that in February, I would have brought it to Germany with me as US, UK, and Europe maps came pre-loaded.

It also came with Bluetooth for my phone so I don't look like an idiot walking around talking to nobody with an ear bud in. The speaker works great but the microphone is not so good. I thought about buying a better one.

The only short comings I have noticed at all is that the maps are behind road development, some say by as many as two years.

Just something to keep in mind.

I would say that all your comments are valid and the Tom Tom is one of the best around (its various models I mean!) in many tests in magazines etc... I have owned a 700 with hard disk since Feb 2006, I do not regret the purchase in the slightest!!

What a "Bad" GPS is like I cannot imagine!!! Simply awful and completely useless!!